Taftanaz
|
Taftanaz تفتناز Teftanaz |
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|---|---|
| Town | |
 Taftanaz
|
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| Coordinates: 35°59′49″N 36°47′12″E / 35.99694°N 36.78667°E | |
| Country |
 Syria
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| Governorate | Idlib |
| District | Idlib |
| Subdistrict | Taftanaz |
| Elevation | 330 m (1,080 ft) |
| Population (2004) | |
| • Total | 8,540 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+3) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+2) |
Taftanaz (Arabic: تفتناز, also spelled Teftanaz) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate, located 17 kilometers northeast of Idlib. Nearby localities include Ta'um and Binnish to the southwest, Maarrat Misrin to the west, Zardana to the northwest, Maarrat al-Ikhwan to the northeast and Bawabiyah to the east. Taftanaz is a primarily agricultural town and consists of concrete buildings. It is surrounded by wheat fields.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Taftanaz had a population of 8,540 in the 2004 census. The town is also the administrative center of the Taftanaz nahiyah which consists of five villages with a combined population of 24,145. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.
The name "Taftanaz" is neither an Arabic nor Turkish word. Instead, it is likely that the name is of Hittite origins. Taftanaz was mentioned in an inscription on the Temple of Karnak as one of the places conquered by Thutmose III during the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt in the 15th-century BCE.
Residents of Taftanaz have participated in several successive demonstrations protesting the Syrian government starting from April 2011, the beginning of the uprising. Between the first April demonstration and April 2012, security forces raided the town four times. In October 2011, clashes between the Syrian Army and local rebels resulted in the deaths of five people in Taftanaz. On 21 March 2012 further heavy clashes occurred between the army and rebels, forcing rebels to retreat from Taftanaz.
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